Killing the Sprout (4)
“Why him all of a sudden? Did something happen?”
“No, it’s nothing….”
Leah spoke in a low voice.
There was no particular reason.
It was because she had been having strange dreams every time she fell asleep.
She couldn’t remember the exact contents of those dreams, yet every morning she woke up with tears streaming down her face.
A stabbing pain in her chest was an added bonus.
The doctor could only suggest it might be a form of post-traumatic stress disorder or some unknown aftereffect, but offered no clear cause.
That was only natural.
The detailed examinations had revealed no abnormalities whatsoever.
The one thing Leah did remember was the captain wearing the black cat mask.
She had to find that man.
In her dreams, she was always searching for him.
Arhen, however, could only look troubled.
It wasn’t as if she hadn’t tried to look into it.
From the moment she noticed something strange about the Security Strategic Agency, Arhen had begun using the full authority of the Inspector General’s Office to track Karin Maven and the unidentified captain.
Yet she couldn’t find them.
An organization that had completely slipped from the grasp of the Inspector General’s Office, which boasted power second only to the Commander-in-Chief in jest?
That was precisely why she had become so deeply intrigued.
It was far too suspicious.
Arhen paused for a moment, then nodded to Leah.
“…Understood. I’ll look into it.”
The investigation itself was classified information.
No matter how close and dear her junior was, she couldn’t share the details.
The very existence of the Security Strategic Agency was a top-level secret.
Arhen had no choice but to keep her mouth firmly shut.
She was the very embodiment of perfect FM—by-the-book procedure.
No word described Arhen Orca more accurately.
“Yeah… Thanks. But, sis, there’s one more thing.”
“What is it?”
“What’s the current state of our Graveyard Fortress?”
“You’re full of sudden questions today.”
Arhen finally set down the pen she had been holding.
She turned to face Leah.
“Something’s happened to you. Tell me.”
Leah glanced away, avoiding her gaze.
There was a peculiar power in Arhen’s eyes.
Meeting them made one want to confess everything without realizing it.
Arhen was someone worth emulating, and when you shared your worries with her, she offered genuine empathy and practical solutions.
Yet Leah hesitated—wondering if it was right to speak of this feeling now.
Anyone would find it strange.
Obsessing over what was clearly just a dream and chasing after a man whose face she didn’t even know.
“Leah.”
“…Eep.”
But Leah had always been weak against Arhen.
Just as Arhen cherished her, Leah cherished Arhen in return.
“Actually… I’ve been dreaming every night lately. Every time I fall asleep.”
She carefully voiced her feelings.
Leah told Arhen everything she could remember.
That the man in her dreams was undoubtedly him, and that every dream ended with Graveyard Fortress being utterly destroyed.
“Titans come pouring in over the horizon in overwhelming numbers. We fight desperately, but we’re pushed back in the end. Just as everyone is being slaughtered, that man screams and takes his own life.”
“That’s… a very ominous and unpleasant dream.”
Arhen rubbed her arms as if chilled by Leah’s story.
“Yeah… That’s why it’s so hard. I’ve never been afraid of sleeping before.”
Strictly speaking, they weren’t nightmares. She couldn’t recall most of the details.
Yet the final moment—when even she was sacrificed—and the man’s anguished cries continued to echo in her ears, driving her to the brink of madness.
—Leah, Leah. You said you wouldn’t leave. You said you’d stay by my side!
—That’s right. I was wrong. Next time, we’ll leave the military together. We’ll go somewhere far, far away where no Titans or other people can find us.
—Leah…! No! Is even this, living like this, not allowed? Why, why me…!!
What troubled her even more was how the voice sometimes sounded completely different.
It was as if, each time they reached a different situation, she kept dying over and over again.
Recently, not only the man’s voice but her own voice had begun mixing in as well.
—I’m sorry I couldn’t keep my promise.
—Leave together? Just the two of us? What about everyone else….
—I loved you. Truly. But the place you belong isn’t by my side, is it? Next time, it’ll be the place where everyone, everyone is waiting….
Just recalling it made her dizzy.
Leah squeezed her eyes shut against the sudden spinning sensation.
“It might be more serious than I thought. What did the doctor say?”
“They said there’s nothing wrong…. That’s why I asked. Could this be a prophetic dream? I heard some people are born with that ability.”
“That’s true.”
“Maybe I awakened some superpower as an aftereffect of the gunshot wound?”
Even in this situation, Leah Gilliard couldn’t help making a ridiculous remark.
Arhen stared at her blankly for a moment before bursting into a soft laugh.
“Say something that makes sense. Then we’d all be superpowered, wouldn’t we?”
How many people had died and come back to life at Graveyard Fortress?
Arhen Orca herself had nearly been sacrificed because of Lutus Edan’s reckless command.
The unpleasant memory surfaced, and Arhen let out a deep sigh before adding,
“Graveyard is… currently just the fortress walls and Akasha left standing.”
“Only Akasha? Akasha is basically the core of the fortress defense system. Why is only that left?”
“I don’t know. The engineers from High Command, the Signal Corps, and the Engineering Corps all say they don’t know the reason. To retrieve Akasha, all the data files it holds must be deleted, but for some reason an enormous amount of data refuses to be erased.”
“That’s suspicious in itself….”
“Even so, we can’t just leave Akasha sitting alone in the middle of nowhere, can we? So they’re leaving the fortress buildings as they are until they find a solution.”
“Hmm….”
Leah chewed her lips uneasily.
“Anyway, I’ll do my best to find that captain. It’s probably just a meaningless dream, but maybe you liked him so much that he’s appearing in your other dreams too.”
There was truth to that.
She really had liked him, after all.
If that were the case, Leah was essentially asking Arhen to find her romantic interest for her.
Shame washed over her belatedly, and her face flushed red.
“Leah, don’t think about anything else right now. Focus only on recovering. Whether it’s dating or blind dates, you need to get better first. You wouldn’t want to do that from a hospital bed, would you?”
“You’re right….”
“Stability, always stability! So go to sleep quickly. I feel like I’m bothering you, so I’ll just go wait in the lobby.”
“Okay.”
Leah watched Arhen’s retreating figure as she quickly gathered her documents and left.
Even her sister couldn’t easily put it into words.
It was baffling even to herself.
Yes, it was just a meaningless dream.
Humanity had won the war against the Titans, and she herself was a living witness to history.
But what was this unease?
It wasn’t the fear that Titans might suddenly appear.
It was a more fundamental anxiety.
Something.
It felt as if she were about to lose something precious if things continued this way.
She didn’t know whether it was because of the mysterious captain she had met at the banquet or because of the people at Graveyard.
—Leah… I love you.
—I love you too.
The moment Arhen left, the voices began echoing again as if on cue.
Leah could only squeeze her eyes shut and pull the blanket over her head.
***
Graveyard Fortress System Self-Diagnostic in Progress.
Executing orders from highest-priority command authority, Lutus Edan.
180 days have elapsed since the order was input.
Missing Protocol Activated.
If no command renewal is received from Lutus Edan within the designated period, the memories of designated targets will be restored.
Primary Target: Vice Commander, Colonel Arhen Orca.
Secondary Target: Assault Captain, Lieutenant Colonel Drake Brown.
Tertiary Target: Supply Division Chief, Major Charlotte Evergreen.
…
……
…
No corresponding personnel found within communication range.
The primary target designated in the 34th record for priority restoration is Leah Gilliard.
Quantum Record Transmission Activated.
In accordance with the emergency execution procedure of the Missing Protocol, an emergency return message to Graveyard will be transmitted to the target in 12 days.